A Reflective Farewell To World War Ii

September 6, 1995|By Howard Kleinberg, Cox News Service

BREMERTON, WASH. — This was their final hurrah. There are no more 50th anniversaries. For almost all, a 75th is out of the question.

As the boys of 1945, now graying and slowing, received their final tribute on the deck of the equally timeworn USS Missouri Saturday, a string of 50th anniversary observations that began, perhaps, in 1988 with the 50th observance of Kristallnacht, or, for certain, with the commemoration of the 1939 German invasion of Poland, finally ran its course.

From this point on, there probably will be only memories; no more parades; few, if any, tributes.

It was on the deck of the USS Missouri that the Japanese came to sign the surrender documents that ended World War II. History clings to her decks. From around the country, the men who served aboard her came to participate.

As I sat in the broiling sun, awaiting the formal ceremonies, I could not help but think of the difference in generations.

The surviving veterans, and certainly those in whose memory a wreath was dropped into the water, are and were of a different generation, one that saw oppressors in a different light and who offered themselves - their lives - to an unselfish cause.

Americans of World War II understood that to bring down a form of tyranny, it was necessary to sacrifice lives.

Today, things are different. The sight of one dead American soldier being dragged through a street in Somalia traumatizes a nation, causes it to abandon the unselfish mission it had undertaken.

The prospect of the loss of a pilot, or pilots, intimidates much of our population, which demands abstinence from any involvement in Bosnia despite documentation of genocidal practices there.

It is with shock that I hear of relatives protesting the movement of U.S. troops to hot spots around the globe, in fear that something might happen to them.

The generation that fought World War II, as well as my Korean War generation, understood that when you joined the Marine Corps, Army, Navy or Air Force, someone might get hurt. That was part of the job description.

No one joined for a college education or to learn computers.

Everyone, including the guys who lorded over the mess halls and galleys, knew what a rifle was about and how to use it. You took that step forward at enlistment and you were offering your life to your country.

Sadly, it's not that way today. We look away today from the famines of the world, the tyranny of others, and worry that the loss of but one American is not worth saving thousands, perhaps millions, of others.

And the political hacks feed off it.

The last hurrah of the men and women of 50 years ago may also be the last hurrah of chivalry and unselfishness.